I thought it would be a drama set mostly in the imperial kitchen, but the trailers for Royal Feast makes it look like the typical palace romance between a maid turned empress (Wu Jinyan) and the future emperor (Xu Kai).
The 40 episode drama will stream on Mango TV – viewing calendar can be found here.
Produced by Yu Zheng, Royal Feast 尚食 stars Wu Jinyan as Yao Zijin, an ordinary girl who joins the royal kitchen as a palace maid, and eventually works her way up the ladder to become head chef.
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Posters, photoshoots and stills that caught our eyes this week. What caught yours?
Director Zhang Kaizhou (The Story of Ming Lan) returns to the Song Dynasty in Serenade of Peaceful Joy (formerly Held in the Lonely Castle) in this tale of the court and harem of the Emperor Renzong of Song (Wang Kai). The series focuses on the attempts of the leads to try to balance their responsibilities and personal lives and stars Wang Kai, Jiang Shuying, Ren Min, Bian Cheng, Yang Le, Wang Churan, Ye Zuxin, Yu En’tai, Xu Lingyue, and Zhang Tian’ai.
The series should be available on Youtube on this channel beginning April 7th, with two episodes a day on weekdays and one episode a day on weekends.
Here’s a compilation of the much more enticing TV spots for Serenade of Peaceful Joy (formerly Held in the Lonely Castle), focusing on the relationships between the Emperor (Wang Kai) and his Empress (Jiang Shuying), favorite concubine (Wang Churan), daughter (Ren Min), and first love (Crystal Zhang Tian’ai), as well as that between the Princess and her first crush (Ding Jiawen), husband, eunuch (Bian Cheng), and father.
The drama has been moved back to April 7th due to a national day of mourning for victims of the coronavirus on April 4th.
So SARFT has decided to give Held in the Lonely Castle a new name, and the historical drama is now going by the name Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐. The new name is the title of a popular song during the Song Dynasty commonly used by poets to pen lyrics of common life, a reference to the peaceful and prosperous reign under the Emperor Renzong, in part perhaps due to the high and lonely standards the Emperor held for himself and his family. Wang Kai plays the emperor stuck between a rock and hard place, while Jiang Shuying costars as his empress.
The 69 episode drama airs daily on Hunan TV beginning April 6 April 7.
Despite the name change, there is definitely not an iota of joy in the new trailer below.
Held in the Lonely Castle has released its first teaser, and shows a conflicted Emperor Renzong of Song (Wang Kai) who must balance the pressure of reform and performing his royal duties with the desire to be a good father to Huirou (Ren Min). Costars include Jiang Shuying, Yang Le, Bian Cheng and Yu Entai.
Held in the Lonely Castle has released a set of stills to commemorate 100 days of filming. Starring Wang Kai, Jiang Shuying, Ren Min and Bian Cheng, the historical drama about an emperor’s struggle to balance the factions and push through new reforms is slated to run for 50 episodes.
BTS:
Here’s a first video glimpse at the cast and set of Wang Kai and co.’s Held in the Lonely Castle 孤城闭 as they (and we) wish you all the luck in the world.
Character posters are out for Daylight Entertainment’s next big historical production Held in the Lonely Castle, which stars Wang Kai as the emperor who constantly finds himself between a rock and a hard place, and Jiang Shuying as his virtuous empress.
